Pitts was the most recent speaker in the Provocative Perspectives series sponsored by the Vice-President of Student Affairs. One of my “special project” assignments has been coordinating this series for the past five years. There are many exciting aspects of this assignment, but the best part by far is meeting amazing, intelligent, inspirational and provocative speakers. Our featured speakers have included Leon Panetta, Arianna Huffington, Ron Takaki, and Bill Strickland. 

Pitts gave a wonderful talk on race relations, and I would not do it justice if I tried to summarize his entire message. However, here is a highlight I would like to share. While his focus was on the discord between certain groups’ views on our progress towards ending racism, I feel his approach can also be valuable in any disagreement. He examined our current climate using the glass half-full vs. half-empty metaphor.

A distilled version of Pitts’ message is that whether the glass is half empty or half full depends on how thirsty you are, and more importantly we should consider the possibility that it is indeed both. We have come a long way in the path towards ending racism, and we still have a long way to go. Pitts’ sentiment is that we should not disregard the water that is already in the glass and we should not stop pouring.

Why is it so difficult to accept that both could be right? Perhaps because holding a polarized view excuses oneself from having to take action. Why might a white person want to believe there is no more progress to be made? because then maybe that person can realive him/herself from the guilt and burden that he/she might feel about having to advocate, stand up, or act out against racism. Why might an African American want to believe that nothing has changed? because then maybe that person can use race as an explanation for any injustice, inequality, or negative outcome in his/her life.

In most disagreements, our own position allows us an escape, an excuse, a means to avoid taking action and making difficult choices. If we were to consider for a moment that perhaps our opposer is correct, that there is some truth in their statement, that perhaps they have a point…where then does that leave us? Well, hopefully it leaves us in a position where we could consider a third-option…that both are correct. This is not to say that both are always correct, but rather that considering this third-option is a step in the right direction.

As Pitts says, if both parties do not make the effort we will only hear the sound of one hand clapping.

I was recently reminded of the story of seven blind men and an elephant. In the story, each man is feeling a different part of the elephant. The one touching the tail thinks it is a rope. The one at the leg thinks it is a tree trunk. They start to fight about it. Whether or not the conflict between the men and their perspectives was resolved depends on which version of the story you believe. The lesson I take away is that we all think we know how it is but in reality we only see a piece of the whole.

I like this story because each of the men was right. In my own work life, I have recently started trying to identify the elephant. How can it be that we are viewing the same issue from opposing positions? What could the issue look like from your side of the elephant? And how can I best describe my side in a way that helps us both get a better idea of what the elephant really is?

In some cases, this has required assembling an elephant that doesn’t yet exist. In creating collaborative programs within the institution, different departments bring their components or values. Sometimes they are open to integrating these components and often they want their components to be the whole elephant.

I have recently encouraged the students I work with to see how they could combine their seemingly different perspectives to create a greater outcome. This is especially challenging because the temptation is to recreate our existing structures – silo-ed departments, specialized colleges, two-party systems. Everywhere we look we can find examples of people holding on to their piece of the elephant.

Here are 5 resources that resonated with me:

1. Technology. I have been researching other institutions online, and I can attest that many universities are underutilizing their IT resources, including websites, virtual campus tours, blogs, and social media. According to Maguire and Butler, “New and expanding virtual communities allow us to use technology as a way to view the experience and the vehicle for understanding the experience.” In my opinion, universities should be using technology to send a universal message and instead these technologies often appear disjointed and lack cohesion.

2. Finding Meaningful Information. Universities need to track, mine, and interpret data in order to understand the needs, opinions, preferences and patterns within the institution. Extracting meaning and insight from the data is especially challenging because we have so much information available to us. There is definitely value in the data, but I believe the biggest challenge (for myself included) is finding the qualitative as well as quantitative insights in order to understand how the university is functioning.

3. Critics. Getting to know the critics is an underutilized practice in many professions. When critics wield disproportionate influence within a community, there is an opportunity to craft initiatives directed at them. A well-known lesson in customer relations is that the most satisfied customers are often those who have experienced a problem that has been positively resolved. After learning about this, I have started looking at “problem customers” as opportunities to demonstrate our amazing services.

4. Alumni. Maguire and Butler emphasize the value and importance of communities within communities and one of the greatest (and underutilized) strengths of communities within a campus are the alumni. Communities like fraternities, athletics, orientation programs, and some departments have great capacity to build in alumni support. Some possibilities are developing alumni to be mentors, allies, tutors, and donors.

5. Front Line Troops. As a student affairs professional (who is relatively removed from the recruitment and admissions process), my interest in enrollment management is primarily in retention and graduation. A 2005 survey of college presidents found that “student retention” was the second highest concern among 29 issues facing academic institutions. Retention is everyone’s responsibility on a college campus – from the custodian to the administrator. By encouraging all employees (rather than just administrators) at an institution to focus on student success our efforts are greatly strengthened.

What are your tips for enrollment management?

Goodbye Amelia Island! Goodbye Ritz Carlton! And, goodbye ladies of the Women’s Leadership Institute ’10! I will miss you all!

It has been a rejuvenating and inspirational conference! I am looking forward to returning home with new ideas and insights. Here are some of the highlights I’m taking away:

3 Mistakes Women Make

(from Lynne Gangone’s session on Reframing Power and Leadership)

1.       Minimizing your work or position

2.       Apologizing

3.       Taking up too little space

3 Resume Writing Tips

(from my conversation with Ellen Heffernan of SJG-The Spelman & Johnson Group)

1.       Include responsibilities and accomplishments under your position title

2.       Include a 2-sentence description of your institution to provide context

3.       Quantify any supervision, advising or collaboration with students or faculty

3 Examples of When Not to Have a Difficult Conversation

(from Melanie Hawks’ session on Difficult Conversations)

1.       It’s mostly about you

2.       There’s another, better way

3.       You just need to vent

There was a lot of great information presented over the past few days, and I hope I can continue to retain and revisit it.

(I ran into Mrs. Claus and one of her helpers on the last day.)

If you were at the conference, what was your greatest take away?

What is courage? This was a question I had to think hard about when asked to share my “personal story” of a courageous act during today’s plenary session. It was especially challenging because I don’t think that many of my actions have been especially “courageous.” I would describe myself as a hard-worker, dependable, loyal, respectful, and friendly, but courageous?

Compared to Frances Lucas, our keynote speaker (who was also the youngest vice-president for student affairs in the country at age 29), I was not feeling like much of a daredevil. But, as I listened to my fellow participants open up about their personal experiences I began to reframe my own. I’ve had difficult conversations, worked under the pressure of deadlines, asked for funding, and spoken publicly to large audiences.

And the strategy that has helped me get through all these tough situations is the same strategy that Frances Lucas unveiled as the secret to being courageous. I went in knowing what I wanted the outcome to be, whether it was getting two staff members to work together or making 500 people laugh at my jokes.

So, what is the secret to being courageous? Know what you want, and ask for it. It’s that simple.

Listening to Frances Lucas was definitely a highlight of today’s program. She is dynamic, funny, and entertaining, as well as extremely experienced and accomplished.

Another highlight of my day was speaking one-on-one with Ellen Heffernan of SJG-The Spelman & Johnson Group. Heffernan gave an excellent breakout session on Career Development, which covered everything from defining your ideal job to negotiating your salary. She gave practical and useful advice, and she is a wealth of information. I was so enamored with her presentation that I cornered her in between sessions and asked her to look over my resume! She was extremely gracious and generous, as I am sure my little “consultation” wasn’t exactly how she had planned to spend her downtime.

When have you had to be courageous in the workplace?

The fifth annual Women’s Leadership Institute has brought over 200 women from 38 states together to hone leadership skills for working in a rapidly changing environment, develop a better understanding of campus as a workplace and culture, and share experiences with others about how campuses are adapting and adjusting. All this challenging work is taking place on Amelia Island (Florida) against the amazing backdrop of a luxury hotel at the ocean’s edge. Although this won’t be a trip for surfing, kayaking or hiking, I’m still enjoying being in these extraordinary and elegant surroundings. I’m looking forward to reflecting, redefining, and relaxing!

The conference kicked-off tonight with keynote speaker Sally Hogshead author of Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. Hogshead’s message was, “Fascinating women triumph. Always.” She encouraged participants to find a way to use their unique character traits to brand themselves. She said, “The thing that makes you different makes you special and fascinating.” Sally even brought her daughter on stage to tell her that she never has to wear pink and that  she doesn’t always have to do exactly what her mom tells her.

The dynamic speaker especially encouraged the audience to tap into their “Vice” trigger. Vice is the trigger that pushes us through boundaries. Hogshead said, “If you’re not creating a problem with somebody, you’re probably not fascinating anybody.” Activating the Vice trigger is about luring your audience away from their standard choices. It is used three-times more often by men than women as a means of persuasion and captivation.

Why is it so hard to activate the Vice trigger? Maybe it’s because we don’t want our backsides exposed. Taking risks means that some people may talk negatively about us, we may fail, or we might embarrass ourselves. There’s a famous quote about leadership that says, “The higher up the corporate ladder you climb, the more your ass hangs out.” Among the participants who took the {F} Score Brand Personality Test, most women at the conference scored low on Vice and highest on “Power” and “Lust.” Over the next few days, I hope to reflect on my strengths and natural triggers, as well as redefine myself in areas like “Vice.”

Are any of you readers at the conference? What did you like most about tonight’s opening address?

The first keynote by Delia Horwitz and Paula Vigneault focused on collaboration. Delia and Paula have written a book called Collaboration Soup. It is “a six-step recipe for co-creative meetings and other conversations.” Here is an overview of the six steps:

1. Ready to Go
2. Engage Your Group
3. Cook the Conversation
4. Integrate the Ideas
5. Plan the Action
6. End with Clarity

The part of the presentation I enjoyed the most was the description of how the brain works to help or hinder the collaboration process. Most of us know instinctually that setting the tone of a meeting (serving food, having a comfortable temperature, arranging the seating) can greatly impact the success of the meeting. The authors explained how scientific discoveries about the brain support this generally accepted finding.

The amygdala, which is a part of our primitive brain, is constantly monitoring incoming signals to determine whether or not we are in danger. When the amygdala senses danger, it triggers the “fight or flight” response. Some physical indicators of this response are faster breathing and increased heart rate. When we are in “flight or flight” mode we tend to perceive everything in our environment as a threat to our survival.

It is impossible to be collaborative when the amygdala is sending signals that we are under attack. Even without realizing the physical responses, when our amygdala senses danger it automatically triggers survival thinking and behaviors. We begin to protect and look out for our own self interests, focus on self preservation, and engage in judging and blaming behaviors. In order to calm the amygdala and create the conditions for collaboration, we can engage the five senses. We can play soft music, serve food, ensure that people are able to make eye contact, and check that the temperature is comfortable.

In order for collaboration to take place, we have to make sure the amygdala does not take over and we have to engage the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC is like the central command station of the brain. It can override the amygdala by sending signals that say, “It’s ok, I can see the whole picture and we are not really in danger.” When the PFC is engaged, we are able to have empathy and compassion for others. It allows us to notice and care about the impact of our behavior on others. It also helps us tune in to our intuition and insight.

What does this mean for student development? As Student Affairs professionals, we often engage in collaboration with other departments on campus; as we should, since collaboration is a great way to create an outcome that is greater than the sum of its parts. Therefore, it is helpful to understand the conditions which allow people to talk with each other in respectful ways and allow them to imagine a different future.

We also need to learn to turn down our own “fight or flight” response. We can do this in two ways – changing our external environment or changing our perception of our environment. First, we can change our external environment by surrounding ourselves with people who care for us, removing ourselves from hostile environments, and creating a life around a sense of purpose. Next, we can change our perception of our environment by learning to engage our PFC, learning not to take things personally, choosing our attitude, and taking control of our emotional reactions to the events that happen to us. Part of changing our perception is to view the difficulties of life as opportunities or events that will make us stronger and more loving.

For more information about the book Collaboration Soup visit their website at http://collaborationsoup.com/.

How do you set the table for collaboration?

Tomorrow morning I’ll be heading back to campus for one of my favorite parts of the start of the academic year – Student Community Services (SCS) Orientation! One of the activities that I lead each year is called True Colors. It is a personality /work-style inventory similar to the Myers-Briggs and Strengths Quest, and it is a fun and user-friendly tool.

Several years ago, our department embraced True Colors and every staff member took the inventory. I found out that I am “gold,” my supervisor is “orange,” and most of my department is “blue.” It was transformational because it gave us a vocabulary and a place to start the conversation about individual work styles. We also gained greater understanding of which traits we each might find frustrating, and which environments would help us each thrive.

The premise is fairly basic. There are four colors – orange, gold, blue, and green – and each color has  a corresponding set of personality or work-style traits. Here is a brief summary:

Orange – Creative, spontaneous, impulsive, entertaining, open-minded, daring, fun

Gold – Responsible, dependable, predictable, organized, traditional, paternal

Blue – Authentic, devoted, poetic, self-searching, sensitive, spiritual

Green – Analytical, intellectual, precise, efficient, competent, fair

The outcome of each person’s inventory was not surprising but it helped us all focus on the strengths that each member brings to the team. Rather than becoming frustrated by the “green” person who asks a lot of questions or the “blue” person who has to be sure that everyone is happy, we were able to see how a “green” person can help us research possible solutions and how a “blue” person can hold the team together.

I have also used True Colors with the student leaders with great success. Last year, the leadership team in my office was made up of four students and each was a different color. I helped preface our year together by talking about how each of them would bring unique strengths to the program, and I also preempted some of the challenges by pointing out some of the traits that may be frustrating to each of them in advance. During the year, instead of personally attacking each other they were able to refer back to their “colors” to try to understand each others’ needs.

Our office currently hosts two AmeriCorps programs, both as a direct and a sub-grantee. AmeriCorps programs allow us to provide valuable capstone experiences to students. We have graduated over 200 AmeriCorps members from our various programs.

If we are selected as a FoodCorps Host Site, members will be placed at partner agencies to build and tend school gardens, conduct nutrition education, and facilitate Farm to School programming targeting preschool aged and Latino children.  Our office provides members with AmeriCorps orientation, teambuilding, and training opportunities. Over 15 different organizations have already expressed an interest in partnership, including various university programs, government agencies, and grass-roots organizations.

Being selected as a Host Site for FoodCorps would be a very exciting addition to our portfolio. We have an increasing number of students interested in organic farming and sustainability each year. FoodCorps would provide an opportunity for these students to add a capstone experience to their college careers.

One of these new programs is Alternative Breaks. The Alternative Breaks program was founded in 2006 by a group of students who had a passion for making a difference in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Since then, it has been led by students who were passionate about everything from engineering to sustainable farming.

Previous trips have included New Orleans (every year since 2006), New York, Jamaica, and United Arab Emirates. Trips take place during winter, spring and summer breaks and bring students into other communities to address local, national, and international needs. The program is open to all students of all colleges and majors.

The program receives limited student fee funding which supports a student assistant and marketing materials. Participants pay for transportation, food, and lodging. Fundraising opportunities are provided for students with limited financial resources and to supplement university funding.

The Alternative Breaks program offers a chance to raise students’ self-awareness, supplement their educational experience with the University, and demonstrate Cal Poly’s enthusiasm to make a positive impact outside of the campus community. Students are immersed in another culture, which provides the opportunity to examine social issues and reflect on their own positions of power and privilege. Volunteer excursions give Cal Poly students a chance to make a lasting contribution and work together to positively affect other communities.

Along the way, I have helped institutionalize the program by securing student fees, identifying funding, facilitating meetings between students and risk managers, and advising students. While this is a dream come true for me, I am extremely proud of the students and the program they have created.

When I first started coordinating community service at my university, I noticed a heavy emphasis put on serving the local community. This was important because we live in a small rural community and it’s important for students to give back and show their appreciation for the services they receive. However, our community is also very sheltered, homogeneous and idyllic. Therefore, it was important to me that students also gain exposure to problems facing other communities.

Hopefully the conference reviewers will find this subject area interesting and you will have the opportunity to see and hear more about our Alternative Breaks program at your next conference!

Does your university offer an alternative break program?